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Sabrina Spilman

SPED-511

November 12th, 2016

Diversity Project

General Information:

The school that I am placed it is titled The Family Resource Center in Pittsburg, Kansas. My

cooperating teacher is Dan McNally. Dan is the lead teacher in his classroom at The Center and

has worked there for many years. He was very helpful during my diversity hours and he was

always there whenever I had questions about my target student. Dan knew that my target student

can be quite challenging, so he was always eager to provide me with the information and

resources that I needed to fully benefit from the time I spent with my target student.

The Family Resource Center is part of USD 250, so for my economic status and ethnicity

I used Pittsburg USD 250 as the district where I retrieved all of my information. The social

economic status of The Family Resource Center is 21% that are non-economically disadvantaged

and 79% are economically disadvantaged. The ethnicity of The Family Resource Center is 64%

white, 23% Hispanic, 10% other, and 3% African American. I also found that within the USD

250 district there are 17% of students that have a disability and 83% of students that do not have

a disability. I think that by knowing all of this information it really helped see the difference in

students and the different diverse situations that take place throughout the district.

Target Student Information:

The target student that I was placed with at The Family Resource Center is a male and he is four

and a half years old. The ethnicity of my target student is white. I am scheduled to work with my

target student on Tuesday and Thursdays from 11-12, right before lunch time.
Some of the background knowledge that is important to know about my target student is that

he has a really hard time focusing on pretty much everything. He needs a one-on-one at all times

because he has a tendency to run out of the classroom and away from his teachers, and without a

one-on-one he could harm himself or someone else. My target student has yet to be diagnosed

with any reason as to why my target student acts this way, but he does have a lot of one-on-one

supervision and he is getting screened often. The special education teachers at The Family

Resource Center have a strong feeling that he does have some sort of behavioral issue but they

also believe there is much more to it than that.

Journal Entries:

09/20/2016

Today was my first day working with my target student. I was told by my cooperating teacher

that my target student is very difficult and can be very hard to handle. Of course, I was feeling

very nervous at that point. I was told that my job is to keep my target busy and to make sure he

does not run out of the classroom and does not cause harm to other children. I was also told that I

need to be sure that he doesn’t pester any of the other students, because he has a tendency to

badger other students for no apparent reason. Whenever I was finally introduced to my target

student, he was very shy. He didn’t really want me to be there, you could tell. He didn’t like

people to really be near him and he didn’t like when people asked him questions. I learned that it

would probably be best if I just sat and watched him for our first day together so that he will kind

of get used to me being around. By the end of the hour I had with him he had become a lot more

open with me. We joined his class for group time on the carpet and he had a hard time sitting still

and focusing so I found that he liked to sit on my lap, and whenever I let him he seemed to calm

down and pay better attention to what Dan was saying at circle time. Whenever I left I told him
goodbye and he did not care one bit that I was leaving. Hopefully we can make more progress

the next time.

09/22/2016

Today whenever I entered the classroom to help my target student, he didn’t quite recognize me.

Of course, I kind of figured he wouldn’t remember me because I was only there for one hour and

he didn’t really care that I was there. However, whenever we started working, he seemed to be

more aware of me. He acted like he really wanted me to help him with things and actually be a

part of his routine. The time I am there is partly during recess time. He has a hard time with

recess because it is not very structured which can cause him to act out. He didn’t act out too

often today, but he did keep running away from me. I received strict orders from my cooperating

teacher to stay with my target student at all times so that he had no time to make a bad decision.

So, since I was told to not leave his side, I had to keep running after him, and soon I realized that

he thought that it was a game, and he thought it was funny. Whenever I got close enough to him,

we had a short talk about how we don’t run from our teachers and that I am here to help him. I

would ask him if he understood and he would nod. At this point, I am learning that he is not very

verbal at all, which causes me to understand why he acts the way he does.

09/27/2016

This is my third time working with my target student and I feel as if I have a new understanding

of him. I realize how hard it is for him to communicate with everyone, which is why he tends to

act out. I also realized that most of the students in his class noticed that he is different than them

and sometimes they don’t say very nice things to him, which also causes him to act out. I decided
that I would try my best to redirect the other students and tell them that they need to treat him

how they want to be treated. Whenever I get to the class, they are just finishing up their early

lunch. I walk in and my target student is running from the table and his face is very red. The

other students say his name over and over again and tell him he needs to sit down. I, however,

knew that something was wrong because I was told that he loves to eat, and I wouldn’t think that

he would just run away from the table for no reason. I ask him what is wrong and he spits his

food out in the trash can and says HOT as loud as he can and starts crying. I realize then that he

didn’t know how to express the pain he was feeling, so his only option was to jump up and run

away. I asked him if he was okay and told him I was so sorry that happened and I know it can be

painful. I also told him that he can avoid burning his mouth by blowing on his food before eating

it and then we practiced blowing on our food. I told my cooperating teacher that all the students

were shouting and my target student whenever he got up from the table and the cooperating

teacher told the other students that the target student is none of their concern and they need to let

the teacher’s worry about what is going on within the classroom.

09/29/2016

Whenever I walked into the classroom today, my target student was very excited to see me! He

said my name as if we had been best friends for the longest time. This made my heart so happy. I

was excited to see him as well because I think we are really creating a great bond. Today, we

created a fall craft. We painted with our fingertips to make fall leaves in a tree. I had to show my

target student how I wanted him to do this, so I had to create my own so he could see a clear

example. Whenever I showed him how to do this craft he seemed really excited, but they

changed rather quickly. Whenever I told him to dip his fingers in the paint, he started to become
very anxious and wanted to get up. He kept saying “no” over and over again. I think that his

senses were very heightened because of the paint and the texture of it. I did not make him

complete the fall tree with his fingers because I could tell that he really did not like it at all.

Instead, I let him paint with a paint brush. His looked different than his peers but I think it helped

him to feel like he was involved, even if he didn’t do it the same way as his peers. Some

modifications were made and I think that it went really well and we still learned a lot from the

lesson.

10/04/2016

Today whenever I got to the school I learned that my target student was not feeling very well. He

seemed to have some type of cold to where he couldn’t breathe very well out of his nose and he

had a very bad cough. The cooperating teacher told me that if I wanted to I could stay inside with

him instead of going outside and we could play in the gym. We stayed inside and played together

for a while. We threw the styrofoam frisbee around for a while but I could tell he really wasn’t

feeling well. Usually my target student’s class takes a nap after they come inside from recess but

my cooperating teacher said that instead, we could go ahead and start nap early. My cooperating

teacher gave me a weighted blanket to lay on my target student because it helps to calm him

down. Whenever I laid this blanket down, he fell asleep within about five minutes. I never knew

anything about weighted blankets and I didn’t even know they existed. I learned that I will have

a weighted blanket around my classroom, in case a child needs to calm down and take a minute

to themselves.
10/06/2016

Whenever I arrived today, I could tell that my target student was feeling a lot better. He waved at

me and said “Hi” over and over again until I said it back. I asked him if he was feeling better and

he nodded very excitedly. My cooperating teacher told me that if I wanted to do something fun

with my target student, we could walk down to the sensory room because my target student

really enjoys the things in there. Before this, I had never even know that such a room existed. We

entered the room and my target student yelled with joy and it was obvious that he has been in

there before. My target student doesn’t say many words but he does a lot of grunts and groans

whenever he wants something. Whenever we entered the room he grunted and stood by this huge

thing that is filled with water and he was indicating that he wanted me to turn it on. Whenever I

turned this machine on, my target students face lit up and he was so excited. The water turned

different colors and there were bubbles going up and down. He couldn’t stop staring at it and he

kept telling me to “look”. It was very sweet. Also, there was a huge ball pit and he showed me

how he has used it in the past. He gave me a ball to throw and I threw it in the ball pit and he

jumped in after it. I thought this was very cool and I also thought it was interesting how he knew

exactly what all of the equipment was for and how it was used and he tried to help me

understand it. I really learned a lot about a sensory room and how much fun they can be.

10/11/2016

Whenever I arrived today to help with my target student, the whole class was getting to know

me. They were all excited whenever I arrived and my target student was extra excited. I think

that we are finally forming a bond. My cooperating teacher again told me that if I wanted to do

something fun with my target student we could go back to the sensory room. I was excited to go
because there were a lot of toys and tools we had not used in my prior visit. Whenever we went

this time, there were special education teachers out in the hallway and they helped explain

everything really well to where I knew what I was doing. Whenever my target student and I went

to the sensory room this time we played a fun hand-eye coordination game. They have this tube-

like thing where my target student was standing and then I would throw him the ball and he

would have to try and catch it. I think the reason for him to be standing in the tube is so that

whenever he drops the ball he won’t have to go running after it multiple times. My target student

really enjoyed this exercise a lot. He did a really good job with catching most of the balls and

whenever he didn’t catch one he would giggle and say, “I silly”. It was really sweet and I feel

like he really enjoyed this time we spent together. Something else I noticed about the sensory

room is that it had lights that can be dimmed. I turned down the lights just a little bit and my

target student immediately knew what I had done. He said, “no no, leave lights on”. I could tell

that he was obviously a little frightened by the change in the lights.

10/13/2016

Today, while I was with my target student, we were outside for a little while. They were already

outside whenever I arrived and he had a one-on-one with him and whenever I got there she left

for just a little bit. She told me he was being a little aggressive today and he was having trouble

following directions. I said hello to my target student and he didn’t seem very interested in me at

all. You could tell he was distracted and didn’t want to be bothered. We walked around on the

playground for a while and then we went into the play house. He started throwing mulch and all

of the students that were in the house and they would ask him to stop and he would just continue

to throw it at them. I had to remove him from the situation because he was not using his listening
ears very well. I told him that he needed to be nice to his friends and he needed to listen to his

teachers. He seemed to understand what I was saying and I asked him if he was going to make

better choices and he answered me with, “yes yes yes!” So, we tried again. We walked around

for a while longer then he went up to a child on a bike and tried to push him off of the bike. He

didn’t hurt him, but it did frighten the other child a little bit. I told my target student that we

cannot treat our friends that way. At this point, it was time for me to leave so I told my

cooperating teacher how he had been acting and he was very disappointed. I think that my target

student was just having a rough day.

10/18/2016

Today whenever I arrived to see my target student he was very pleased to see me! He came

running up to me and gave me a huge hug. I was so happy about this because last time I had to

get on to him a few times. He seemed to have forgotten all about that, which I was glad. My

cooperating teacher informed me that they would be watching a movie today. He told me that I

could try and get my target student to sit and watch it or I could take him to the sensory room. I

chose to stay with the class because I think it is good for him to get as much classroom

interaction as possible. I started out with him sitting on the carpet like all of the other students

but he quickly became extra squirmy and would not sit still. The other students started to

complain because he was getting in the way and they couldn’t see the movie. To fix this

problem, I decided to sit on the carpet with him and told him he could either sit in my lap or right

beside me. He chose to sit in my lap, which I figured he would. Whenever he sat on my lap, he

sat and watched the whole entire movie very quietly. I could tell he was getting sleeping at the

end because I could feel his head nodding back and forth. I had to tap him every once in a while
to keep him from falling all the way asleep. Whenever the movie was over I asked him if he

liked the movie and of course he said yes. I told him that he did a really good job being quiet and

paying attention and he nodded his head really fast. My cooperating teacher told me that he

rarely sits through videos or movies. He said that he has never seemed interested in them and he

was very astonished that today he sat through an hour long movie. I was really excited too

because I felt as if we accomplished something together.

10/20/2016

Today is my last mandatory day with my target student. My cooperating teacher was very sad to

see me go because he said that my target student had really become attached to me. Of course,

this made me sad too. The class was drawing a picture of themselves in their Halloween

costumes today. Of course, they were all mostly scribbles and stick figures, but they were still

cute. My target student didn’t understand the activity and instead he just colored his whole entire

paper orange. My cooperating teacher said that this was fine just as long as he didn’t peel off the

paper on the crayon. Which, of course, he did try to do several times but I stopped him. After we

colored our picture the class had centers. My target student got placed in the kitchen center. The

kitchen center is apparently the best center to be in. There were so many toys and my target

student wanted to dump out every single bucket of toys. I had to tell him that we can’t do that

because then we would have to clean all of it up and we wouldn’t want that. He nodded his had

as if he agreed with me. We played dress up and we put food in the oven for it to cook. Every

time we would put food in the oven he would make a “ding” noise with his mouth to indicate

that the food was ready. It was really cute. Whenever I was getting ready to leave I told him that

I wouldn’t be here as often anymore because I had to go to school. He didn’t really care very
much. But, even though I am done with my ten hours, I still plan on coming back on the days

that I am free to check up on him. I really loved getting to know my target student.

Key Experiences:

1. Specific skills learned or practiced

The specific skill that my target student and I worked on was hand-eye

coordination. This skill was very fun for us to practice because it involved

throwing and catching a ball. In the beginning, my target student was not very

good at catching the ball, but the more we practiced the better he got. He also

improved throwing the ball in the right direction. Whenever we started he would

throw the ball over me or to the side of me but the more we practiced the better he

got at aiming in the right direction.

2. Skill levels of the student(s) and/or specific problems experienced and how you

handled these problems.

As a class they were all creating trees with fall leaves on them. They were

painting the leaves on with their fingertips. My target student did NOT like the

paint on his fingers and started having a melt down because of it. I quickly told

him that is was okay and that we could use other tools to make the leaves. We

found him a small paint brush that he could use for the leaves instead. He did

much better with this method because he didn’t have to touch the paint with his

hands. I think that his senses were very heightened whenever they paint was on

his fingers and that is why he didn’t like it. But, he had fun painting with a paint
brush and he also accomplished what the other kids in his class accomplished, just

in a different way.

3. Experiences you had with your student(s) other than tutoring type activities

(examples: eating in cafeteria, picture taking day, testing, etc.).

One of the experiences I had with my target student is that we went to the sensory

room by ourselves. There were not any other students around and he felt like all

of the attention was on him. We went into the sensory room and he showed me all

of the fun things that they do in there and he showed me his favorite things. This

is an activity that we did together that was fun and very enduring.

4. Materials you collected, adapted, made or were given by the teacher to use in

working with your student(s) and the results gained.

One of the materials that the teacher gave me in order to better accommodate my

target student is a weighted blanket. My cooperating teacher gave me this

weighted blanket so that I would be able to comfort my target student because he

wasn’t feeling very well. I had never seen a weighted blanket before, so it was

very new to me. Whenever I laid the weighted blanket on my target student he

was very soothed and he fell right to sleep. I had never seen anything like it

before, but I will definitely invest in some weighted blankets.

5. Students’ strengths and/or interests (both in and out of school).

One of the interests that my target student had was the water machine in the

sensory room. My target student absolutely loved the water machine and the way

it changed colors whenever you turned it on. He sat and watched the water

machine for quite some time and he was so very excited each and every time we
went to the sensory room just so he could see the water machine. He loved

watching the bubbles and pointing to them.

Final Reflection:

This project really helped me see special education in a totally different light. I had no

idea what to expect before I started doing my diversity hours. As I progressed through my

required hours I began to realize how much I truly respected those who work with special

education every day. I realized that it is not an easy field to go into and it can be very stressful.

However, I also learned that it can be very rewarding. Every day that I went to visit my target

student he seemed so excited to see me and I felt as if I was truly having an impact on him and

his education. I think the biggest thing that I learned from this is that every single student needs

to feel loved and they will succeed at what they are trying to do.

This diversity project really helped with developing my confidence in becoming a

teacher. I have seen some inconsiderate teachers over the years, and thanks to my time with my

target student, I will be one hundred percent positive that I will not be one of those teachers. This

diversity project really opened my eyes and helped me to see that all children are special and it is

our job as teachers to find the very best in every single student. I am so happy that I got the

opportunity to do this diversity project so that I could see different aspects of education. I think

this experience really enlightened me to a whole different way of thinking and teaching and I am

extremely grateful for that.

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